Christine McKenna Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Another report about the benefits of a liberal arts degree emerged this week, this time from across the Atlantic at Oxford University, entitled "Humanities Graduates and the British Economy: The Hidden Impact". The study, which tracked the career progress of a collection of humanities graduates over a period of time, reveals that a liberal arts degree does not necessarily limit job prospects, and has increasingly led graduates to find positions in key sectors for economic growth, such as finance, media, law, and management. Though the study (a pilot project) focused only on humanities graduates from Oxford, researchers suggest the methodology may be useful in future studies of other universities or a broader spectrum of graduates. The head of Oxford’s humanities division explained to the Chronicle of Higher Education that “the second part of the report, based on in-depth interviews with 50 graduates about their experiences and their responses to changing job markets, supported the view that it was the unique qualities of a humanities education that had made the difference in their careers,“ (rather than being simply the effect of a prestigious Oxford degree).
A call for papers has been released for a conference taking place at Wilfrid Laurier University from February 14-16, 2014, entitled “Interrogating Access: Current and Future Directions for Scholarly Research and Communications in Canada”. Details can be found here, and proposals are due by August 1, 2013.
The Power of the Arts National Forum is set to take place at Carleton University from September 27-29, 2013. The theme of the event is “Advancing Social Change”, and it is co-hosted by Carleton’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Michaëlle Jean Foundation. Registration is open and the form can be found here.